Grandmother and the Runaway Shadow

Rosenberg, Liz

ISBN 10: 0152009485 ISBN 13: 9780152009489

Publisher: Harcourt Childrens Books, 1996

Synopsis

A young girl tells the story of her courageous grandmother, who as a young woman left her home and family to travel to the New World, where her only companion for a long time was her shadow.

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Reviews

Grade 1-4?The immigrant's journey is imagined once again for children. In this case, it's persecution by the Cossacks that drives the narrator's grandmother to America. "Times were so bad that even a poor shadow would run off." In fact, the young woman and her shadow become best friends, keeping one another company in the new land and complementing each other perfectly. Rosenberg's story successfully evokes the main character's courage and loneliness. Told in the rich cadences of the old country, the tale gains resonance by its universality and would work well with the many similar stories available. Distinctive oil paintings combine light and shadow; figures stand out against muted backgrounds, and the woman is always illuminated. An author's note provides additional information about the story and the immigrant experience.?Leda Schubert, Vermont Department of Education, Montpelier
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

A classic theme?emigration to America?is considerably garbled by Rosenberg's (Monster Mama; The Carousel) addition of a "runaway shadow" that accompanies the heroine to the new world. Fleeing a Cossack raid, Grandmother, then a young woman, meets the shadow one moonlit night "in the middle of a potato field in the middle of nowhere," and tells it of her plans to go to America. The whimsical shadow speaks ("I will go with you"), engages in independent actions (the shadow "raced along with one foot in the gutter, and one in the street, scaring the horses") and, when Grandmother finds work in a garment factory, it even tells "funny stories that made all the women laugh." The episodic story of the brave young woman who journeys across the ocean alone and makes a new home seems at odds with the presence of a mischievous storybook shadow with whom she is "best friends despite their differences." Even Peck (A Christmas Memory; How Many Days to America) chooses to portray the shadow as a smudge rather than visually represent its capricious individuality. The unity and power of her scumbled oil paintings are not enough to clarify Rosenberg's message, but, in conveying the notion that Grandmother is alone even in a crowd, enhance the perception of Grandmother's inner strength. Perhaps the most moving element of this book is the author's note, which includes photos of Rosenberg's and Peck's immigrant grandmothers. Ages 5-8.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Ages 5^-8. Based on the author's and the illustrator's own family immigration stories, this picture book tells of a young Jewish woman coming to America to escape persecution in Eastern Europe around the turn of the century. "When my grandmother came to this country, a runaway shadow came with her." Her shadow gives her courage, makes her laugh, and shares her memories as she runs from her village, crosses the ocean, and finds a home, work, and friends in America. The idea of a secret companion will appeal to children, but the repeated mention of the shadow on every single page is overdone, especially since the immigrant story is drama enough. The oil paintings, in shades of brown, with rhythmic, sweeping lines, capture the vitality of the period, the flowing crowds in the tenement streets, the workers in the garment factory, and the brave young woman who finds in herself--in her own shadow--the strength for her journey. There's a story like this in nearly every family. Hazel Rochman

Edition details

• Publisher: Harcourt Childrens Books
• Publication date: 1996
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0152009485
• ISBN 13: 9780152009489
• Binding: Library Binding
• Illustrator: Peck Beth
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 32